Welcome to this extensive, honest and in-depth SiteGround review.
If you’re currently in the market for a suitable web host provider then you may have come across SiteGround’s services and are wondering if it’s actually a good fit for you.
With all the different options out there, it’s important that you select the best option for yourself and one that will consistently meet all of your blogging needs.
Because suffice it to say, selecting the wrong host will lead to nothing but issues down the road and I’m sure you want to avoid that completely.
Plus I know you’re looking for something that’s affordable, has impressive features and has a rock-solid reputation as well.
SiteGround checks all of those boxes and much more.
In this review we’ll take a look at:
- What SiteGround is
- Key SiteGround Features
- Pros and Cons of SiteGround
- A SiteGround Walkthrough
- and Lots more
Basically this article will help guide you in your decision as to why SiteGround is a reliable web host for your blog.
Table of Contents
Disclaimer: This post contains some affiliate links, meaning I’ll earn a small commission which comes at no extra cost to you. Please feel free to read my Affiliate Disclosure for more info.
Overview of this SiteGround Review
Before we go on, I think it’s important that I set some expectations for you as you read through this review because this will make it unlike any other SiteGround review you’ve read before or may read later.
This is an oft overlooked section in similar reviews and I promise not to overdo it but I think it’s worth including.
For 2 reasons:
- Just like I mentioned in the disclosure above, I am an affiliate for SiteGround.
- I’m going to keep this review as simple as I possibly could.
Let me explain the reasoning below.
First, if you sign up for any of SiteGround’s services using the links I’ve provided in this post, I get a small commission.
I’d appreciate the support if you did but I want you to know you are not obligated to use any of my links.
In fact I’ll go as far as saying you’re not even obligated to use SiteGround as your web host.
The purpose of this post is to help you make the best decision that works for you and your blog.
You are entitled to your own decisions and I don’t want this SiteGround review to come across as another one of those “do this or you’re doomed” kind of posts.
I’d like for this to serve more as a guide.
I think we’ll both agree that the most important thing that needs to happen at the end of day is that you get your site up and running regardless of which hosting provider you end up deciding to go with.
Agreed?
Okay.
Also, I want you to know I’m not going to make this SiteGround review any more complicated than it needs to be.
We won’t be getting into all the complexities of a web host and all the other super technical stuff.
I’m not saying they’re not important but I’d rather just stick to the basic fundamentals and why I think SiteGround is a good host for your blog.
Because here’s what happens 80% of the time when it comes to choosing the right hosting provider to go with.
(Okay, maybe the 80% is a bit exaggerated but I think you’ll get the gist of what I mean)
- You know hosting is important and you know you need to find one but once it’s installed, that’s really as far as you’ll go unless something crazy happens.
- You need to make sure the specs and features meet your current goals i.e. You want to launch your blog and you need to make sure your hosting provider can sustain your traffic or anything you choose to do online.
- You’ll do your fair share of comparisons but ultimately you know pricing will probably stand out as one of the main points of consideration.
- The tech matters but you don’t want to feel like you’re about to launch a rocket into space.
Basically you just need to know if it works like it says it would.
I’m sure you may have a few more things you want to add to that list but the point is if you’re a solo blogger and are just starting from scratch, your focus is on so many other things and you just need a professional solution that will deliver incredible results.
Sure the tech matters but you’re probably not going to go as far as trying to decode their infrastructure. (at least not yet)
Don’t get me wrong there is a time and place for all of those things and they’re excellent practices in their own right but that’s a whole other topic for another day.
The way I see it, finding a reliable web host isn’t about the degree of technical difficulty but how well that provider can satisfy your needs and meet all the requirements for your blog.
And if you agree with anything I’ve mentioned so far then I can tell you with 100% certainty that SiteGround is a good fit for you.
You certainly are in the right place.
I believe you’ll find this SiteGround review helpful and I’m certain they are the best hosting provider for your blog.
With that out of the way, let’s dive in.
About SiteGround
SiteGround is a hosting provider that offers a number of website hosting features to small businesses, startups, enterprise clients, and bloggers like yourself.
The company was launched back in 2004 and even though it’s relatively newer than some of the other web host providers out there, it has since grown to be one of the best worldwide and now hosts close to 2 million domains online.
The reason for much of their success is thanks in part to their state-of-the-art quality hosting coupled up with smart custom solutions and advanced security all at affordable prices.
Yes that’s a lot of fancy talk to tell you how reliable and helpful they are but as we go through this SiteGround review we’ll look at the different features that validate those claims and help you make your best purchasing decision.
The Elephant in the Room - Is SiteGround Better Than Bluehost?
This is one of the most popular questions you’ll come across so we might as well get it out of the way at this point, “is SiteGround better than Bluehost?”
Well, I’ve used both and the way I see it, the comparison between Bluehost vs SiteGround is equivalent to that between Apple vs Samsung products.
They’re both quality services in their own right and you’re always going to have people on either side of the fence.
I currently use SiteGround for this blog and I’ve used Bluehost on some of my other sites before.
I’ll be the first to let you know Bluehost gave me no issues at all. This isn’t an attempt to bash any of their services.
However since switching over to SiteGround, I’ve found them to be a better fit in terms of flexibility, features and performance.
So in my opinion, SiteGround is a more rounded solution compared to Bluehost and is the clear winner in this case.
Who's Best?
Not to toot my own horn, here’s a quick exercise for you.
Head over to Google and search for Bluehost vs SiteGround.
Take a look at all of the top results (on Page 1) and see which one is highly recommended.
I guarantee you at least 8/10 will tell you SiteGround is the better option.
I know it may seem crazy that I’m sending you over to other people’s reviews but I want you to validate it for yourself.
Plus it’s helpful to see what others are saying if you’re still struggling to decide.
SiteGround's Best Features
I - Reliable Shared Hosting
For any new blogger, you’re most likely going to use shared hosting which means you’ll be sharing server resources with other website owners.
The last thing you want to deal with is limited hosting resources, security issues or anything that could potentially slow that your site.
Good news is SiteGround has one of the best shared hosting plans in the market and those aren’t things you’ll have to worry about.
II - Excellent Speed and Uptime
Nobody likes a slow loading site or one that’s constantly crashing.
Those things are very important because they help provide a good user experience and can also boost your search engine rankings.
When it comes to speed and performance, SiteGround has got you completely covered.
III - Top-Notch Customer Support
SiteGround has more than enough customer service representatives for every shift.
They are very accommodative and are there for you around the clock with quick solutions any time you have a problem.
IV - Variety of Options
There are plenty of hosting options for both beginners and advanced agencies alike.
V - WordPress Staging Environment
A staging environment is a great way to help you catch potential errors that will otherwise break your live site.
Think of it as a “demo” site where you can test different things before you try them live.
SiteGround offers a one-click, easy-to-use staging environment for you to run all your experiments.
VI - Free Daily Backups
SiteGround is one of the few web hosting providers that offers free, automated backups which is an excellent option to have for the unforeseen.
Why SiteGround is Good For You (Pros of SiteGround)
We already took a look at some of its best features but these are the reasons why I believe SiteGround is an excellent web hosting provider and why they’ll be a great fit for you.
1 - Performance and Uptime
Performance and Uptime in this case refer to how well your website can “perform” under pressure.
Will your website be able to withstand a sudden a surge in traffic or multiple visitor requests at the same time?
Will it be reliable or will it always crash?
As you can imagine, these are very important metrics because a website going down can not only lead to a loss of potential clients but can also affect your search engine rankings as well.
Long story short, you don’t want your website to have any poor performance issues.
SiteGround understands that and they guarantee a 99.99% uptime which is a win-win for you and your customers.
You even get compensated if your average uptime doesn’t meet those promised standards and as an added bonus you get real-time monitoring to help you detect any server problems as soon as they occur.
2 - Server Security and Site Backups
SiteGround takes security threats and server breaches very seriously (as they rightfully should).
They have several intrusion detection and prevention systems that are not only proactive but work in tandem to scan, detect, and remove all kinds of malware and viruses 24/7.
They also have their own proprietary A.I-based bot prevention system to help protect your site from malicious bots and unsolicited login attempts.
SiteGround also offers free automatic daily system backups and up to 30 backup copies should something unfortunate happen to your website.
You can use the backups to restore a previous version of your website just with a single click.
Sidenote: The GrowBig and GoGeek plans also feature on-demand backup.
3 - Site Speed & Response Time
You know that feeling you get when you’re on a site that’s taking forever to load?
Yeah, your visitors don’t want that feeling either.
You may or may not have known but having a reliable web host (among other things) is a major contributing factor to your overall site speed.
Fortunately for you, SiteGround’s servers are built with speed in mind.
Admittedly they may not be the fastest web host out there but they still boast an honorable top 10 load time of about 673 ms.
To put that into a simple perspective, it’s still very fast.
4 - Customer Support
SiteGround has arguably the best customer support in my opinion. (For the sake of comparison, I’ve used both Bluehost & HostGator before).
I can tell you with certainty that they deliver on their promise of quality, professional, fast, and friendly customer service.
And just in case you were wondering, you can get in touch with them 24/7 by phone, live chat or you can place a ticket.
With my work schedule, I’ve had to get in touch with them at odd hours of the night and still gotten prompt and timely responses.
5 - Improved (Beginner-Friendly) User Interface
SiteGround no longer uses cPanel for account management.
They’ve built a much better interface that’s really user friendly and a lot more easier to navigate.
The old cPanel was such a huge struggle (at least for me it was) but now all your site tools are easily accessible and you can manage your account without all of the confusion.
You can read more about the new client area here or watch the video below to see how easy it is to set up and manage your account.
6 - Free SSL Certificate and Cloudfare CDN
SSL is basically the difference between a http (non secure) and a https (secure) website (Hint: You want the latter).
SSL certificates are a major requirement for 2 important reasons:
- It helps keep your visitors’ information safe and shows them they can trust your site.
- Secured sites have an advantage over unsecured sites in terms of SEO. SSL plays a pivotal role in search engine rankings.
Getting an SSL Certificate is something you’ll normally pay for but SiteGround offers it free forever.
Once you sign up for one of their hosting plans you automatically get an SSL certificate completely free for the lifetime of your plan.
A Content Delivery Network (CDN) is a group of servers that work together to deliver your content quickly.
They’re there to prevent latency which the annoying delay we all hate when a site is taking forever to load. (This is basically all the stuff that goes on behind the scenes of your website)
The basic concept is the higher the number of servers, the quicker it is to deliver your content.
That’s because a CDN helps put your content in many places at once.
SiteGround uses Cloudfare which is one of the most popular CDN services and has servers spread out over 4 different continents which makes it very reliable.
Another win for your visitor’s user experience.
7 - Free and Reliable Professional Emails
SiteGround allows you to create an unlimited number of professional emails at no extra cost.
That helps with your site’s overall branding and legitimacy and is one less headache to worry about.
You can access all your emails right within the client area but you also have the option to forward everything to your personal email if you choose to.
8 - Free Website Migration
Transferring a site from one host to another can be major headache.
But the good news is you can easily transfer multiple WordPress sites from any host to SiteGround at no extra cost (other hosts typically charge you a fee per site).
The transfer process isn’t complicated either.
All you need is the SiteGround Migrator plugin, generate a transfer token and much of the work is done for you.
It’s very simple and straightforward.
9 - Collaboration Tools
With the GrowBig and GoGeek plans, you can easily add collaborators to your account to help develop and maintain your site(s).
If you’re going to be building and designing sites for clients, you also have the option to ship a website from your account to a different SiteGround client.
These are great options if you plan on working with a team or other clients.
10 - Money Back Guarantee
Last but not least is a full 30-day money-back guarantee on all of SiteGround’s hosting plans.
So basically you can try their services for 30 days and get a 100% refund if you’re not completely satisfied.
Keep in mind the refund is for hosting fees only and does not apply to additional features such as domain names, admin fees or any other add-on you may have purchased.
It’s still a great option to have for your peace of mind.
11 - Endorsed by WordPress
WordPress recommends SiteGround as one of its top web host providers which is a big vote of confidence and a sign of trust.
To be fair, Bluehost and DreamHost also round up that list.
The Not-So-Good About SiteGround (Cons of SiteGround)
SiteGround has a lot of positives but just like everyone else, it isn’t without its own imperfections.
Let’s take a look at a few of those drawbacks.
1 - No Free Domain
While many hosting providers include a free domain as part of their introductory offer SiteGround does not.
If you choose to get a domain name with them it’ll end up costing you an additional $15.95/year.
While it may seem like an unnecessary extra step or cost, I actually think it’s good practice to keep your domain name separate from your hosting provider just in case something happens or you choose to make some changes down the road.
To be honest it’s really not as inconvenient as you may think it is.
You can learn why and how to go about it in this post.
2 - High Renewal Rates
SiteGround’s introductory and renewal rates are arguably a little bit more expensive than a few other hosting providers so that’s something you need to consider.
For example the Startup plan costs only $3.95 when you sign up for a new account but jumps up to $11.95 when it’s time to renew.
My suggestion is you take advantage of the discount pricing by signing up for a longer billing period.
They also have a month-to-month option but that’ll end up costing you more in the long run and there’s also a $14.95 setup fee. I wouldn’t recommend any month-to-month plan.
3 - Limited Storage
SiteGround offers 10 – 40 GB of web space depending on the shared hosting plan you select.
That in itself is still more than enough storage for your typical WordPress site so there really shouldn’t be any issues.
However if you have an image heavy site or one that’s already driving a lot of traffic, you might end up needing a little bit more.
P.S. No hosting provider offers unlimited storage.
SiteGround Review: The Hosting Packages
SiteGround has several hosting packages for you to choose from:
- Shared hosting
- WordPress hosting
- Cloud hosting
- WooCommerce hosting
- Enterprise hosting
- Reseller hosting
Shared Hosting
The Shared Hosting Plan is the most popular option and it’s likely the one you’re going to be using unless you have a huge site or have some other special requirements.
There are 3 options for you to select from:
- The StartUp Plan – Special Price: $3.95/month (Regular: $11.95/month)
- The GrowBig Plan – Special Price: $5.95/month (Regular: $19.95/month)
- The GoGeek Plan – Special Price: $11.95/month (Regular: $34.95/month)
Which one should you select?
My recommendation is the GrowBig plan because you get the most value for your money.
If you can afford it, I also recommend signing up for a longer billing term in order to take advantage of the steep discounts.
WordPress Hosting
The Managed WordPress Plans are similar to the shared hosting plans.
They have the same 3 options (with the same names) and have the same pricing.
The only difference is the WordPress Plans are focused on WordPress only.
So if you plan on building a WordPress site then this is an excellent option for you to manage your site.
Cloud Hosting
Cloud hosting is a step up from your shared hosting account.
Once your site begins to outgrow the shared hosting solutions (say more traffic, more data storage, etc), the cloud is there to handle all of those things.
It is a fully managed service so if you ever get to that point they can really help you make the right decision and handle all the IT aspects for you.
There are 4 options to select from:
- Entry – $80/month
- Business – $120/month
- Business Plus – $160/month
- Super Power – $240/month
WooCommerce Hosting
WooCommerce is an online eCommerce platform built on WordPress.
If you happen to have one or plan on launching an ecom store with WooCommerce then the Managed WooCommerce Plan is something you need to take advantage of.
What’s great about this plan is it gives you access to the different tools you’ll eventually need for shipping.
You can easily integrate things like Printful, OpenCart and more.
The pricing and the nomenclature are all similar to the Shared Hosting Plan.
NOTE: All ecommerce websites need to be PCI compliant and in order to do that you’ll need the GoGeek Hosting Plan.
Enterprise Hosting
Enterprise Hosting is for the big guys.
You really need to justify the need for a completely customized hosting infrastructure so this is something you won’t have to worry about.
Just know the option is there if ever need be.
NOTE: SiteGround has since discontinued their use of Dedicated Hosting (physical servers or computers).
You now have the option of either the Cloud Hosting or the Enterprise Hosting solutions.
Reseller Hosting
Reseller hosting is essentially the GoGeek plan for anyone who wants to manage other websites.
So you get unlimited websites, the top tier of resources and all the other features you’ll need to manage those accounts.
It’s everything you need for bulk web hosting.
Which SiteGround Hosting Plan is Best For You?
In most cases, you’re going to be starting a personal blog or a small business website.
That means you just need something that’s going to bring your site online, make it available to the rest of the world and sustain all your needs.
For anyone just getting started, the Shared Hosting Plan will do just fine.
The GrowBig Plan to be specific.
It meets all your current needs as a beginner plus it’s very easy to scale upwards from that point.
Get My SiteGround Discount
Take advantage of the huge discounts off the Shared Hosting plans when you use my special link below.
How to Set Up Your SiteGround Account
Signing up for SiteGround hosting is very easy.
All you need to do is visit the site, select a plan and sign up for the option you want (Hint: The GrowBig plan).
The only problem is since SiteGround doesn’t offer a free domain name, you’ll need to get one from a separate domain registrar then link up both accounts.
Don’t worry it’s not that as difficult as it sounds and I have the perfect tutorial for you.
It even shows you the step-by-step guide on how to properly install WordPress.
Read this complete walkthrough on How to Set Up Your Namecheap and SiteGround Accounts.
Final Thoughts on SiteGround
If you’re looking for a well-rounded solution that you can start and grow your business with, then SiteGround is the answer for you.
They have all the resources to meet the needs of beginners and pros alike.
When you consider the wide range of features they have coupled with amazing customer service and affordable pricing, it’s really one of the best hosting providers you can have.
Like I said at the start of this review, if you’re looking for something that’s going to work without all of the headaches then this is the best option for you.
I encourage you to do your research if you need to but overall SiteGround ranks as the best web hosting provider in the market.
They go above and beyond to cater not only to your needs but those of your audience as well.
If you need a hosting provider that will grow and scale with your blog, your brand or your business, then SiteGround is my number 1 recommendation.
Get started with SiteGround today.
As always if you have any questions, please feel free to ask down in the comments section.
I’d love to get your thoughts!
SiteGround Review FAQs
Here are some Frequently Asked Questions about SiteGround.
Is SiteGround any good?
Yes it is.
SiteGround ranks as one of the best hosting providers in terms of speed, performance, uptime and customer support.
You also have a variety of hosting plans to select from at very affordable prices.
Is SiteGround better than BlueHost?
SiteGround is overall a better choice than Bluehost.
When you consider things such as uptime, speed and customer service, SiteGround outperforms and has proven time and time again to be more reliable than Bluehost.
Is SiteGround secure?
SiteGround treats security as one of its top priorities.
They offer intrusion detection and prevention systems as well as A.I bot prevention systems that protect your account from bots, malware, viruses and even hacker attempts.
They also offer Free SSL certificates for all account holders which is a great way for you to protect your visitors and customers’ information.
Which SiteGround Plan is best?
SiteGround has 3 hosting plans for Shared accounts:
- The StartUp plan which is great for single websites.
- The GrowBig plan which is perfect for beginners and has more features than the StartUp plan.
- The GoGeek plan which is great for web designers, larger sites or anyone who needs more development resources.
The GrowBig Plan gives you the most value for your money and is a great option for you to start and grow with.
How much does SiteGround cost?
SiteGround has different prices depending on the hosting plan you select.
Shared hosting, Managed WordPress hosting and Managed WooCommerce hosting all have the same introductory pricing ranging from $3.95 – $11.95/month (Renewal rates from $11.95 – $34.95/month)
The Cloud hosting plan ranges from $80 – $240/month.
The cost of the Enterprise plan is tailored to your needs.
What is the best hosting for WordPress?
SiteGround is arguably the best web hosting provider available and offers great flexibility, features and performance.
They’re also recommended by WordPress itself as one of the best hosting providers.
That makes it the perfect fit for WordPress.
